Vimarie Serrano, The Regeneration Circle, 2012.

Forest-like space at Dorado Beach Resort. Installation that consisted in a formation of mirrors that, from the floor up, stand still surrounding a central circular mirror.

Regeneration Circle

Vimarie Serrano, was born April 4, 1976 in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Although proficient in drawing, she began taking workshops under the direction of teachers like Carmelo Sobrino, Elias Adasme, Angel Nevarez among others at the age of 22. Vimarie continues formal studies in the Department of Image and Design at the “Escuela de Artes Plasticas” of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Professors like Rosina Santana Castellón and Carola Cintrón conformed part of her artistic development. Vimarie also participated in several exhibitions in the local scene such as “Muestra Nacional by the Cultural Institute of Puerto Rico, “Contest of Art and Literature” by Ateneo Puetorriqueño, “Jardín de Vieques” in Vieques’ Island Fort Conde de Mirasol and Circa Labs in the Circa Fair, among others.

It is often said that the representation of the sublime does not sufﬁce to express this unique concept. It is necessary to previously experience the sublime, throughout day-to-day life experiences. Only then, the artist evolves into an explorer of natural places and settings. Often unobserved by the common eye, these spaces become the idyllic backbone for the development of the artwork, offering us a signiﬁcant aesthetic experience. Certainly, this description ﬁts the installation “The Regeneration Circle”, which Vimarie Serrano has presented in a small natural reserve in Dorado. The concept of the sublime is the main element the spectator encounters when visiting this installation. Not in the romantic sense (which validates the sublime in a more profound manner, in a world afar, another) yet, it lies in the differentiation made by Lyotard, setting the sublime in the present; in other words, the instant produces the affair.

Therefore, as in other Land Art proposals, in which the landscape is intervened among certain unnatural surrounding elements, it is time sustaining the aesthetic action, transcending what is merely visual, to penetrate our own life experiences. Visiting this work of art is highly gratifying. Although ephemeral, one needs time to observe this work’s different nuances, participating beyond perceiving the multiple empirical possibilities “The Regeneration Circle” has to offer. The elapse of time, to be positioned inside and out of the setting, the illusory reﬂection that extends the limits of the ground space, the effect of light on the objects and surroundings, symbiosis between natural elements (trees) and industrially manufactured objects (totemic panels), the sensation of crossing dimensional portals (as in “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick), and also, sound or forest silence, all reafﬁrm a procedure that includes us in a natural order in which we are all immersed, but have all forgotten. Vimarie Serrano’s installation gives back the vision of the sublime within us, without alienating us from the Nature we come from, inviting us to respect and preserve its life cycles, which in the end, are the same ones that make possible our existence.